Pharisees, haters of Rome, and Herodians, friends of Rome: they worked together to crush Christ even unto death. Mark 12:13-17 for Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time. Two crowds that were against each other— the Roman-friendly Herodians and the Roman-hating Pharisees— teamed up to trap Christ between them. They hated him more than they hated each other. So, they carefully crafted for him a harmful riddle with a Pharisee half and a Herodian half. The... Read more
Glory Be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. For the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40, Romans 8:14-17 and Matthew 28:16-20. Christ rose from the dead with an everlasting body, everlasting life and everlasting joy. Forty days later, he ascended into heaven. And now we wait for him to come back to give us also bodies, life and joy that will never weaken or die. Everlasting bodies like... Read more
Behold your mother John 19:25-27. The disciple who took into his life and home the Lord’s mother had borne witness to the Lord’s life. His witness began at the Lord’s baptism and lasted into the days of the Lord’s resurrection. Throughout his witness, this disciple took no name other than the disciple whom Jesus loved. And at the end of his witness, he wrote: This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who... Read more
By the Holy Spirit that Christ’s resurrection has already poured into our humanity, we inherit and share the dignity and intimacy of God. John 15:26-27; 16:12-15 for Pentecost Sunday. Sometimes we can hardly bear up beneath bodily illnesses and aches. Then comes death itself. So, we can easily forget or doubt that God in Christ empowered our body to rise from the dead and sit enthroned as God in glory. And furthermore, for the time being, the... Read more
Love asks us to live in its image, after its likeness, in God’s own image. John 21:15-19 for Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter. Today in his Gospel, we hear Christ ask for love: Simon… do you love me more…? Before his death, Christ had said: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not,... Read more
Concerning worship in a time of pandemic. St. Tarsicius (or Tarcisius) died defending the Eucharist from a pagan Roman mob. Anti-Catholic monarchs and zealots have executed priests for celebrating the Eucharist. However, Catholics wishing to practice their Eucharistic faith in a time of contagious disease do not have a right to do so in a way that could endanger the health and lives of others. Luke 6:6-11. On another sabbath, when Jesus entered the synagogue and taught, a... Read more
God’s joy is our calling. For the Seventh Sunday of Easter Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26. 1 John 4:11-16. John 17:11b-19. Last Thursday here we celebrated Christ’s flesh and blood Ascension into heaven forty days after his Resurrection. Next Sunday we shall celebrate the day of Pentecost, literally the Fiftieth after he rose from the dead. In today’s first reading the Word of the Lord shows us one thing his Church did between his Ascension and Pentecost. But... Read more
Human DNA ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. For the Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 1:1-11. Ephesians 1:17-23 or 4:1-13. Mark 16:15-20. With the words of the Creed at Mass every Sunday of the year, we proclaim our faith that after Christ rose from the dead he: ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory... Read more
God is Love always ready for us, whether we are ready or not, aware or not, faithful or not. John 15:9-17 for the Sixth Sunday of Easter. We again hear Christ command us to practice a kind of love that could kill us, a love that might feel good or bad, a love that might cause us joy or fear and sadness. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater... Read more
God cuts us, for one must cut, that is, prune, a good grapevine often, if one wants the joy of big crops of grapes. John 15:1-8 for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. The first words of today’s Gospel reading can be a short telling of how Christ spent the forty days on earth after he rose from the dead until he ascended into heaven. The reading began: Jesus said to his DISCIPLES…. For forty days on earth... Read more
Turn. Love. Repeat.
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